Our Research

Our research including studies of childhood risk and resilience; clinical intervention in diverse sociocultural and geographic contexts; religious and spiritual development; altruism and caregiving; emotion and coping with trauma; psychotherapy process and outcome; and maternal psychological development and women's mental health. Take a look >>

We need the eggs

Rumors of psychotherapy's demise continue to be greatly exaggerated, says Barry Farber. As Woody Allen might argue: We need the eggs.Read More >>

Our Graduates

Graduates from both of these graduate-level programs seek positions in teaching, research, policy, administration, consultation, and psychotherapy.

Integrative Project

Spirituality and Psychology

Half a century ago, people were asking, "Is God dead?" Now TC's Dr. Lisa Miller is offering a new master's degree concentration in spirituality and psychology. Find out More >>

Welcome to the Clinical Psychology Program!

Clinical Welcome Message

The primary goal of the Clinical Psychology Program is to provide rigorous training in both contemporary clinical science and clinical assessment and intervention. The research programs of our faculty span a wide range, including studies of childhood risk and resilience; clinical intervention in diverse sociocultural and geographic contexts; religious and spiritual development; altruism and caregiving; emotion and coping with trauma; and psychotherapy process and outcome (see individual faculty web pages). Our on-site clinic, The Dean Hope Center, now functions as both a research and clinical training center. The Center is currently participating in a nationwide study of client demographics, risk factors, and mental and physical health status.

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Overview

The Clinical Psychology program at Teachers College (TC) offers two degrees: a 95-credit Ph.D. program and a 36-credit M.A. program consisting of two tracks ("General" and “Personality and Psychopathology”). Graduates from both of these graduate-level programs seek positions in teaching, research, policy, administration, consultation, and psychotherapy. It should be noted, however, that the M.A. degree is not designed as a NY-state license-eligible program. The coordinator of the M.A. Program is Dr. Aurelie Athan. The coordinator (Director of Clinical Training) of the Ph.D. program is Dr. Lisa Miller.

There are 8 core (full-time) faculty members in the Clinical Psychology program, and, in any given year, 15-18 additional adjunct faculty members. The range of research interests among the full-time faculty is considerable (see individual web pages) and virtually all have published extensively, served on editorial boards of prominent journals, and held important leadership positions in the field. A recent (2007) report in the journal Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice ranked the Teachers College Clinical Psychology program 14th in the country (of 166 clinical Ph.D. programs nationwide) based on the mean number of scholarly publications per faculty member. Based on this criterion, the TC Program was highest-ranked among the many clinical psychology programs in the New York City area.

The Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology has been continuously accredited by APA since accreditation began in 1947-1948. Notable graduates of the program (both before and after 1948) include Carl Rogers, Rollo May, Albert Ellis, Virginia Axline, Chaim Ginott, Perry London, Rollo May, M. Powell Lawton, and Donald Spence. The program is currently run in accord with a scientist-practitioner model of training. Its primary theoretical model is psychodynamic, although other modalities (e.g., CBT; IPT; family therapy) are included in the curriculum. The program provides rigorous training in both contemporary clinical science and clinical assessment and intervention. More specifically, this program is dedicated to training students to generate empirically-based knowledge in clinical psychology and to perform clinical work that is constantly informed by traditional and emerging scholarship in the field. We expect our students to learn to expertly produce, analyze, and discuss scientific material. We expect our students to become proficient at providing clinical services to a diverse population. And, most importantly, we expect our students to learn to integrate these goals. The program is not designed to meet the needs of those whose career goals are focused primarily on the practice of psychotherapy.

The M.A. program is appropriate both for students who have obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology and for those with a more limited background in the field. For many, these programs are of considerable help in clarifying their interest in professional psychology; for others, it is an appropriate first step toward doctoral education in the field. Thus, some graduates of these programs are now pursuing doctoral study in psychology, or degrees in other professional fields (e.g., education, law, or medicine). Others are employed as M.A. level mental health workers or research assistants in hospitals, research institutes, community organizations, business, and educational settings. Both the "General" and "Personality & Psychopathology" tracks allow students to design individualized programs, including the opportunity to work in the field or with faculty.

Students can choose one of two available tracks: The Personality & Psychopathology Track (MA-PsyA) or the General Track (MA-PsyG). The PsyA track is a structured curriculum that consists of pre-selected blocks of coursework to ensure a strong background in the fundamentals of applied psychology. The PsyG track consists of the same course offerings, but allows students to independently tailor their own curriculum